Earnings Preview: Eli Lilly

Eli Lilly (LLY) is expected to report Q3 earnings before market open Thursday, October 23, with a conference call scheduled for 9:00 am ET.

Guidance

Analysts are looking for a profit of $1.02 on revenue of $5.09B. The consensus range is $1.00 to $1.06 for EPS, and revenue of $4.91B to $5.20B, according to First Call. For Q Lilly reported reports Q2 EPS 99c verses consensus of 99c. Positive drivers for this quarter could be strong sales of Cymbalta resulting from new indications and growing global sales growth. Other possible contributors could be Cialis and Byetta sales. Negative drivers this quarter could be generic erosion in Zyprexa.

Analyst Views

On October 20, Leerink Swann noted the company may report better than expected results, due to price increases. However, the firm believes the company's long-term outlook is challenging, due to the large percentage of its revenue derived from products whose patents are due to expire in 2011-2014. The firm reiterated their Market Perform rating. On October 9, Credit Suisse downgraded Lilly to Neutral from Outperform. Credit Suisse downgraded LLY citing the increased risk profile from the ImClone deal. The firm lowered its target to $42 from $56.